Emre Can rages at "arrogant" ref and claims he was "afraid" of Chelsea fans
Borussia Dortmund were dumped out of the Champions League by Chelsea with a second-half penalty proving crucial with Emre Can hammering the performance referee Danny Makkelie
Emre Can has taken aim at referee Danny Makkelie after Borussia Dortmund were dumped out of the Champions League.
The Germans were unable to hold onto their 1-0 first-leg lead in west London as Chelsea won 2-0 on the night to advance into the last eight. Their crucial second goal was filled with controversy though as Kai Havertz scored from the spot - after he was allowed to retake his initial effort.
Chelsea's playmaker saw his first effort come off the post, but was allowed to retake it after VAR ruled that a Dortmund player had encroached. He dispatched the second effort, much to the anger of the visiting players, who also took issue with the awarding of the penalty - again assisted by VAR.
Can was fuming after the contest and said: "The referee. It was his fault today. How can you give the second penalty in the situation? How does it work? That simply does not work! I don't give a s*** who walked in there before. He was arrogant the whole game - that's where it starts. We lost here undeservedly because of the referee."
Dortmund headed to London in good form but have seen their European hopes ended for another year. Can continued to take aim at Makkelie and added: "We play here at Stamford Bridge. Maybe he's afraid of the fans, I don't know, but then UEFA should send another referee."
Raheem Sterling has scored Chelsea's opener in the first-half with their win easing the pressure on Graham Potter with European glory their only chance at winning silverware this term. Their victory was also the first time they'd scored twice in a game since the turn of the year.
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Dortmund boss Edin Terzic cited the decision to award Chelsea a second-half penalty, which took several minutes as VAR analysed Marius Wolf's handball, as the game changing moment, but had no complaints about their Champions League exit.
He said: "If a decision takes five or six minutes to make you know it's not been an easy call. I'm the manager, I'm responsible for performances. But not for the performance of the referee. In both legs it was very tight games. Inches decide whether you're going to go to the next round.
"We've been unlucky in moments, but this is part of the game. We knew we'd have to show two top performances. Both teams deserved to go through but Chelsea scored twice, we didn't, so we can't complain about being out."
